Downturn Dulls Gem Trade's Gleam

The worldwide slowdown in spending is making for rough times in all facets of the jewelry business, reports the Washington Post. More than a thousand jewelers in the US—which buys almost half the world's polished diamonds—have gone bust, and the effects are being felt from the mines of Botswana to the polishers in India.

In Gujarat, India, which processes around three-quarters of the world's diamonds, hundreds of thousands of people have lost their jobs and the regional economy has been devastated. Jewelers in the US say consumers have stopped splurging on "just-because" items and business looks set to keep getting worse—although one jeweler says its purchases of used gold have gone up fourfold.
(More jewels stories.)